


When Lightning Strikes

by blobfish_miffy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-11 09:56:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7043506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blobfish_miffy/pseuds/blobfish_miffy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles and one-shots that I think of sometimes :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

For five long years princess Azula hadn’t set foot in the royal palace. Not since her imprisonment on the Cherry Islands, anyway. The Cherry Islands, her “prison”, so to speak, was a group of three islands littered with cherry blossom trees, the trees that gave the small archipelago its name.

Azula had only just discovered that her brother was the one paying for her treatments on the Islands – she couldn’t believe she had thought otherwise all those years. And now, with the small bunch of leftover hatred towards her brother aching to take over control, she truly believed that she was only returning home for him to see her progress. And of course, if it was worth it continuing the strict, therapy sessions filled life on the Islands.

And now she was back in the capital of the Fire Nation, being brought there on a flying bison, walking through the long halls of the palace.

The soldiers accompanying her were wearing an updated uniform: they started to look less like warriors, and more like the Fire Nation’s officials. The interior of the palace itself had not changed much, except that the atmosphere was more homely.

The soldiers brought her to the dining room. Quite a strange place to meet her brother again for the first time in years, but she kept her mouth shut.  

“The Fire Lord will accompany you in a small while, my princess,” one of the soldiers said. Azula did not answer.

It wasn’t long before her brother walked in. Zuko had changed since their last meeting. He had grown taller, his shoulders broader, and his hair was longer. It now hung at least five inches below his shoulder blades – royal hair grew rapidly – and the crown was shining in the light of the lamps. _He really has become older,_ she thought. And it was true – five years had taken their toll on the young man, but Azula did not know that. 

When he came closer and sat down opposite of her, a wave of fear washed through her body. He looked like their father.

Azula had always assumed that _she_ was the one who looked like their father, but Zuko and Ozai seemed to almost be like mirrored versions of each other. He had the same stern, almost tired look, the same shape of the head, and his nose…

“Azula.” She noticed that even his voice had aged a little, although he spoke softly. “It’s good to see you again.”

She didn’t say anything. She only stared at her brother and prayed to Agni that she wouldn’t find any other things in which he resembled their father. It may have been his fault that the entire nation saw her as crazy, and it may have been him who took the throne away from her, but he was still her brother. Her temperamental, annoying, and caring big brother who possessed far more power than she ever imagined him to have. And looking like their father in more ways than one, almost seemed like a death sentence.

“Did you have a nice trip?”

Silence. She kept looking for more things that made him resemble their father – but she still found none.

His eyes reminded her of their mother. 

“I have to say,” he began, frowning slightly, “I’m assuming you hate me. Especially after that “No, I’m the Fire Lord” stuff, and then that with helping the Fire Nation’s greatest enemy-” he was starting to ramble, but he caught himself in time, swallowed, and began to chew his lip. “I wanted to say, ‘Zula, I don’t hate you.”

She still didn’t utter a word. He took that as a sign to continue his story.

“There has happened a lot in five years, you know. The Gaang and I have constructed a city. It’s called Republic City, and it’s a place where benders and non-benders live together in peace. There are still some flaws, and there have been a few setbacks, but Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and I have a feeling that everything is going to work out. Mai and I are married, by the way,” he continued, “And Ty-Lee has joined the Kyoshi Warriors. She is really enjoying herself.”

Azula was still silent. She wanted to say how happy she was for him, for _everyone,_ that everything was going so well – but she knew it would sound like a lie. She had heard him, at night, after she had teased him again. _“Azula always lies,”_ she had heard him repeat hundreds of times. She would listen to it, basically using it as a song to lull her to sleep, and imagine him squeezing his eyes shut – his then, still perfect pair of golden eyes – and clutching his blanket. Zuko was weak, she then would repeat in her head, and she was strong.

Oh, how empty she would feel, those nights, fooling herself to believe that that emptiness wasn’t emptiness – but a different kind of satisfaction.

She noticed Zuko hadn’t said anything in a while either. When she looked at him questioningly, he gave her a small smile.

“You know, I always was a little jealous of you.”

She stared, a little startled, and he laughed a friendly, warm laugh that she had never heard from their father, but that matched her brother perfectly. “Of course, you’ve known for ages-” not exactly true, “-but I just felt like it had to be said. You’re so talented, Azula, way more talented than I am and – this may sound a little harsh – you could’ve utilised that talent not as a fighting machine, as our pathetic waste of oxygen we call our father wanted you to be,  but as a true master.”

“Lord,” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Lord.” She said. “That’s who I saw him as. As someone for who I had to bow to. Not as a father.”

Zuko didn’t seem to know what to say. “I-” he started.

She cut him off with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” She wrinkled her nose. “I seemed like his favourite, it seemed like I did not see him that way, blah blah blah.” She looked at her brother. “But you know, Zuzu, theatre remains a very important skill of a royal family member. And I” she said, “played my part the whole time,”

Zuko smiled. “I know.”

The door opened and two servants entered, with food on service carts.

“What time is it?” Azula questioned softly.

Zuko was still smiling. “Time for dinner.”

She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until the food had been placed in front of her. The servant was shaking as she was placing different types of cutlery next to the plates. Azula looked her straight in the eyes when the girl was done and gave her a grateful nod and a small smile. The servant almost fainted.

“You’re going to give them a heart attack,” the Fire Lord said with a small smile, as he fished a piece of meat from his soup. Azula didn’t respond to that.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked as, she too, put a piece of meat in her mouth.

Zuko grinned. “Yes. Chicken soup with platypus bear-egg noodles. Your favourite.”

Azula didn’t answer, as she was too busy with trying not to scarf down the meal. 

Zuko kept on chatting. He talked about how their uncle had opened another tea shop, this time in the Fire Nation, and how he had, as expected, thrust it into the care of his nephew(“As if I don’t have anything else to do,” he said, although Azula saw at his twinkling eyes that he enjoyed selling tea), the fact that Aang and Katara _finally_ had become engaged, and that even Toph had seemed to have found someone. 

But when the dessert had been put down before them(mango ice-cream with fireballs) the most important news had been delivered to her.

“I found mum.”

That sentence alone almost made her burst into tears.

“That’s one of the reasons I’ve let you be brought here – that, and your progress is unbelievable. I’ve decided that you can stay here if you want. Therapists will help you at your wish.”

“Is she here?” she whispered.

Zuko nodded and shot her a small smile. “We even have a half-sister, ‘Zula.”

Azula bit her lip. “So… she’s with another man?" She asked, her voice but a whisper. 

“The man she would marry before she was shipped off to marry our father, yes.”

Azula drummed her fingers on the table. “Father won’t like that.”

A ghost of a smile crossed Zuko’s face. “He doesn’t.” He said. “She visited him yesterday. According to the guards, he threw a tantrum for the rest of the day – and cried like a wounded wolf the whole night.”

Azula felt a twinge of jealousy. The sad monster who was their father had seen their mother earlier than she had – but during that time, she had been high up in the air, flying.

“I tried to get you off those islands as soon as she was back in the palace, about a week ago. But you had to finish your weekly programme, and you had to finish it before you could leave.”

He wasn’t lying.

“Do you want to see her?”

She nodded. Zuko stood up and offered her his hand – she declined.

“She’s in her bedroom.” He said when they were standing in the hall. “Do I have to go with you?”

Even though her nod was almost indistinguishable, Zuko’s observant eyes spotted it. As the two of them walked through the halls, they encountered Mai. The tall girl gave her a hug, quite spontaneously, and it gave her a warm feeling inside.

“Nice to see you well again, ‘Zula,” Mai whispered in her ear.

But was she well?

“This way,” Zuko said. Knots formed in her stomach, and in her nervousness she unconsciously grabbed her brother’s hand. His hand was warm and dry and felt safe and she didn’t understand why the simple action gave her so much support, while she had never done something like that.

“Everything okay?” he whispered to her as they stood in front of the door. She nodded. He let go of her hand, said “knock when you’re ready, she’s expecting you”, and disappeared. As soon as the warmth of his presence vanished the knots in her stomach jumped back into position.

She took a deep breath to steady her herself. Knocked twice.

The door opened.


	2. The Heat [1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's an AU guys :) You'll see.   
> It's pretty short and I'm sorry for that by the way.

Heat.

That constant heat.

It was everywhere. It clung to her skin. It accumulated in her lungs and blood. It knotted her hair, it stung her eyes.

That stifling heat.

She had never realized how much she had missed the South Pole until she was captured by the princess of the Fire Nation.

The cells were exactly as Hama had described them. High above the ground, and made of steel. The air was dry and there was no water. Every waterbender was chained up, and if they had to drink, the chains where placed in such a way that they could only move their head.

She was never visited. That is, if you ignore the guards. So when someone asked specifically for her, she was quite surprised.

She was taken out of her cell and was put in a straitjacket right away, as if she was able to blow the place up. There were chains attached to her ankles. As her legs weren’t used to walking anymore, her lungs felt as if they were on fire when they finally ended up at the private talking chamber. In addition to that, the room was even hotter than room where her cell hung.

And then she saw who her visitor was.

The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation was extraordinarily handsome. His eyes were a brighter gold than his sister’s, whose scar had almost burned one closed. Although she saw that he and Azula had comparable features, his non-mutilated face was a huge difference. His dark hair was in a bun, held up by a royal headpiece, the rest of his hair cascading down his back. He seemed to be wearing official military clothing.

Katara had seen him before. He had visited his sister a few times, and he had chased her and her friends too. But, she had forgotten his name.

She was place in front of him, a table in between them. He looked at her, taking her in, and glanced at her necklace. His lips curled into an eerie grin.

The straitjacket felt uncomfortably hot and she felt sweat forming on her hairline.

“The girl from the Southern Water Tribe,” he spoke softly. “A Great waterbender. Very protective. But also, very” he leaned closer, “weak.”

Katara wanted to tear his incredibly handsome head off.

“I presume you already know who I am, since we’ve… run into each other a few times already.” His eyes gleamed dangerously. “But I will introduce myself formally. I’m Crown Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. My sister Azula has chased you quite a number of times. I apologize for her irrational behaviour, she often suffers from temper tantrums.”

That was a mild way of speaking.

“I must say, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, you group is incredibly clever, even without your help. The continue escaping. They keep beating my sister, a very talented firebender, elude the dirty fingers of Zhao, one of my father’s most talented generals, constantly, and most importantly: your beloved airbender seems to keep on learning new things. And I want to say one single thing about that.”

He paused, as if he wanted her to talk. Katara bit her tongue and felt a drop of sweat sliding down her temple.

Zuko sighed. “I’d like to help you.”

For the first time in months, a noise erupted from Katara’s throat. A laugh. A laugh that hurt her stomach and heated up her clammy skin. Her dirty hair hung in wisps in front of her face while sweat slid into her eyes. “Excuse me?” she finally asked, a smile gracing her face. “You want to help?”

Zuko raised one of his perfect eyebrows. “Did I stutter?”

Her smile slipped from her face. “You’re serious?”

“Of course.” He said it as if the mere thought of him joking about that matter disgusted him. “Listen. I’m leaving tomorrow with my ship for the Earth Kingdom. I am able to bring a prisoner of my own choice. And I choose you.”

Katara frowned. “You’re taking me as- as a ‘comfort woman’?”

“No.” Zuko said in a harsh tone. “Why would I?”

She narrowed her eyes.

“No, that’s disgusting.” He wrinkled his nose. “I will not lower myself to Zhao’s level, thank you very much.”

_Oh._ A wave of relief went through her body. “Why do you take me along then?”

Zuko sighed again. “Because I want to help you and your bunch of losers. You know, the Avatar, the earthbender, and that weird guy with the boomerang-”

“They’re called Aang, Toph and Sokka.” She interrupted him stubbornly. “And they’re not losers.”

“-were spotted in the Earth Kingdom a while ago.” He continued, ignoring her interruption. “And that’s why we’re going to go there. It’s our best chance of finding them.”

“Will you let me out of this horrible outfit?”

“What-”

“Will you let me bend? Am I not confined to a cell? Will I receive proper food? Will I have constant access to water?” she pursed her lips. “If you can’t give me that, then I’m better of here.”

“I’ll let you bend.” He sighed, for the third time already. “You will be assigned to a lovely room. There will always be good food. My uncle Iroh is joining us and he has sent a list to the cook of all kinds of food that need to be on board. And, you’re on a ship.” Zuko allowed his mocking eyes to meet hers. “There will always be water around you. Uncle will invite you to tea often, too.”

“Oh.” She didn’t want to give in. Not that soon, anyway. “So I’m allowed to roam the ship freely?” she concluded, more so than she asked.

Zuko nodded silently.

“Hmm,” she bit her lip, feigning a thoughtful look. “I’m not quite sure, yet.”

“By Agni.” The prince growled. “Just admit you’ll go with me.”

Katara nodded a few times. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll go along.” _Any place is better than here._

“Great.” The prince got up and gave her a smile. “I will pass on the news. You have to hold on for al little while here, okay?”

He disappeared.

A little while later she was being brought back to her cell by two soldiers. Katara’s lungs burned once again. But a new hope, some kind of determination, had settled into her heart.

The heat did not bother her anymore.


End file.
